Dispatch from Portland

Portland is not burning despite the efforts of Trump, Bondi, Noem, and federal agents at their direction beavering away to ignite the flames. Their claims that the city is burning to the ground draw on Fox News video from the summer of 2020 aired in a report on the current demonstrations at the ICE facility on the South Waterfront, which have nothing in common with what happened five years ago, and photos of South American riot police uploaded to the Getty Images archive in 2008 that were posted on the Facebook, Instagram, and X accounts of the Oregon Republican Party lauding Trump’s order to send federal troops to Portland.

When a Guardian reporter pointed out on social media that the image was not a genuine photograph of the generally small and tame protests outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement field office in Portland, the Oregon Republican Party’s X account replied: “We’re not reporters, just bad memers.” (Mackey, Republicans post)

I have never been hesitant to condemn the resort to violence under the banner of protest. Troubles at the demonstrations taking place these past months usually come after nightfall in the form of minor vandalism and scuffles with Portland police or federal agents. As of October 1, “over the past 115 days, federal prosecutors have filed roughly 30 criminal cases against protesters, and Portland police have arrested about the same number” (Sparling, Tracking the rise and fall). Turnout at the demonstrations was diminishing until Trump federalized the National Guard for an invasion of Portland that state and city officials insist is neither needed nor wanted. Often there were no more than a few dozen demonstrators.

ICE has responded to the mere presence of protesters with frontal assaults, tear gas (in violation of Oregon law), mace, and pepper balls. In one unprovoked incident federal agents “suddenly burst out of the building,” charged a small number of peaceful protesters, and knocked many to the ground. Among them were an 84-year-old man wearing his Vietnam veteran cap, leaning on his walker, and his 84-year-old wife, who was bloodied and suffered a concussion. “It was,” she said, “totally unprovoked.”

It was not the kind of crowd that shouts the ‘F word.’ It was people like us, our neighbors. There were families, there were several veterans. With no warning the feds charged into us, knocked us down and sprayed us. I was hit in the head with a projectile…People have to know that we are not Antifa. We’re just regular Portlanders who love our city, and my husband, being a Vietnam veteran, is incensed that we’re talking about war within our own country. This is outrageous, really. (Laurie Eckman, quoted by Wosnicacka, Federal agents knock down)

Following up on their visit to the ICE facility on September 25, Oregon Senators Ron Wyden and Jeff Merkley and Congresswomen Suzanne Bonamici (my representative) and Maxine Dexter wrote to Noem about tactics used by the Federal Protective Service and to Eric Johnson, deputy director at the ICE regional office in Seattle, expressing their concern about “the lack of oversight and accountability of ICE agents, including those operating out of the Macadam facility.”

The letter to Johnson cited

multiple instances of agents breaking car windows and ripping people from their vehicles, holding knives to people’s necks, and shoving bystanders to the ground. In addition to this unnecessary violence and use of force, ICE agents hide their identities by wearing masks and do not have visible identification or badge numbers.

To Noem they wrote,

More than a dozen advocates outside the facility have reported unprovoked attacks by Homeland Security police and FPS officers, leaving people with large bruises, chemical burns, and lingering pain. The Portland Police Bureau reported that federal police shoved, hit, and used chemical spray on people outside the facility when, according to multiple witnesses, there was no physical threat to officers. Additionally, a Portland Police Bureau Assistant Chief said in a court filing that federal police are instigating some of the clashes.

They demanded clarity about the kind of munitions used against demonstrators, criteria for their use, reports of “Federal Protective Services Agents instigating violent altercations with peaceful protesters,” and steps to “reduce negative consequences” from substances lingering in the air reported by neighbors and businesses around the facility (Bonamici, Wyden Merkley, Dexter Demand).

Gov. Tina Kotek met with Noem when her plane arrived at Portland airport Tuesday for a photo op at the ICE building. Kotek “reiterated again that there is no insurrection in Oregon” and “requested that Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents obey Oregon laws when they engage in federal operations.” Later that day Noem also met with Mayor Keith Wilson, state police superintendent Casey Codding, and Portland police chief Bob Day, who briefed her on the situation in Portland. At a White House cabinet meeting yesterday Noem called them “lying and disingenuous and dishonest people” and promised to “double down” in Portland (Kavanaugh, Kristi Noem calls Oregon leaders).

Kotek said in a statement she supported Wilson’s decision “to hold the line in response to the Trump administration’s lies and aggressive tactics.”

It is clear from Secretary Noem’s continued false narrative about what’s happening in Portland that the Trump administration has no interest in the facts, no interest in public safety, and that we cannot take them at their word. I am calling on President Trump and his administration to focus on real problems, not made up ones. (Kotek quoted by Kavanaugh)

Maybe it is a mistake to resist temptation to refer to Attorney General Blondi and Reichsführer-DHS Noem the puppy killer. The better course is to confront them with the scorn and ridicule they have earned. Protesters at the ICE facility are doing just that. Isaac Stanley-Becker, a staff writer at The Atlantic who came to Portland to see for himself, described an atmosphere at the Portland ICE protests “more like a carnival than combat.” Masks worn by some “are more likely to have sparkles and streamers than the insignia of any particular warring faction.” He found a man wearing a knitted cap and keffiyeh, a few people in wheelchairs, a topless woman, the guy in the chicken costume, and radical right journalist-provocateurs like Nick Sortor and Andy Ngo (Stanley-Becker, Portland’s ‘War Zone’; Chaubey, ICE Barbie). (I may have seen the topless woman at a NO KINGS demonstration last summer. It could have been a different topless woman.)

The emergency naked bike ride scheduled for Sunday at 2:30 p.m. promises to exhibit a kindred spirit (Sparling, ‘Emergency’). I confess I do not see myself showing up for this one; I will, however, be down at the Waterfront for the NO KINGS National Day of Action on October 18.

Keep the faith. Hold the line.
Stand with Ukraine.
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References and Related Reading

• Ariana Baio, Kristi Noem praised for ‘staring down’ Antifa. It was a dozen reporters and a guy in a chicken suit, Independent, October 8, 2025

• Geoff Bennett, Oregon governor calls Trump’s actions ‘an abuse of power and threat to our democracy’, PBS News Hour, October 6, 2025

• Bonamici, Wyden, Merkley, Dexter Demand Answers about Portland ICE Facility, press release posted on Senator Ron Wyden’s website, October 9, 2025

• Pranita Chauby, ICE Barbie Kristi Noem Lashes Out as Man Protests in Chicken Suit – Calls Him ‘Uneducated and…’, MSN, November 8, 2025

• Governor Kotek Meets with Secretary Noem to Stand Up for Oregonians, Governor’s Office Newsroom Press Release, October 7, 2025

• Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Federal officials made 4 asks over ICE security. Here’s how Portland’s mayor responded, The Oregonian/OregonLive, September 27, 2025

• Shane Dixon Kavanaugh, Kristi Noem calls Oregon leaders liars, says feds will ‘double down’ in Portland, The Oregonian/OregonLive, October 9, 2025

• Robert Mackey, Republicans post fake image of Oregon protest – using photos of South America, The Guardian, October 6, 2025

• Hannah Siebold, Meet activists who have rallied at Portland’s ICE facility for months. Here’s what they’ve observed, Portland Tribune, September 30, 2025

• Zane Sparling, ‘Emergency’ World Naked Bike Ride in Portland announces date, The Oregonian/OregonLive, October 6, 2025

• Zane Sparling, Tracking the rise and fall of Portland ICE protests: Key developments as Trump troops arrive soon, The Oregonian/OregonLive, September 30, 2025; updated October 1

• Isaac Stanley-Becker, Portland’s ‘War Zone’ Is Like Burning Man for the Terminally Online, The Atlantic, October 2, 2025

• We Say No Kings!, Indivisible Oregon

• Gosia Wosniacka, Federal agents knock down elderly couple during Portland protest, The Oregonian/OregonLive, October 4, 2025

• Fedor Zarkhin, Kristine de Leon, et al., 24 hours outside Portland’s ICE facility: Is this what ‘lawless mayhem’ looks like?, The Oregonian/OregonLive, October 4, 2025